Fort Ord trail named after former Army horse soldier

At 87, Allan MacDonald of Marina is still up for a six-mile horseback ride to visit the grave of an old friend — Comanche, the last ceremonial horse at Fort Ord.

"I have a little trouble getting my leg over (the horse) these days," he said Tuesday, "but I learned to ride in 1936, and I'm an old horse soldier. I rode out there last week."

His rides start at Marina Equestrian Center, where he began a cooperative of retired and active Army horsemen who built stalls at the old Army veterinary clinic. The center was deeded to the city of Marina by the National Park Service in 1998 as the core of a multi-use, equestrian-themed public park.

This month, the trail from the equestrian center at to the Jerry Smith Corridor linking Intergarrison Road and the Fort Ord Public Lands was named the Sgt. Allan MacDonald Cavalry Trail in his honor.

Among improvements was a designated equestrian crossing on Intergarrison Road, where the trail crosses the roadway.

The Cavalry Trail ends at Comanche's Grave, which is next to a concrete watering trough built for horses of the 11th "Blackhorse" Cavalry Regiment and the horse-drawn 76th Field Artillery, both of which were stationed at Fort Ord in the years leading up to World War II.

MacDonald enlisted in the Army's horse cavalry when he was 17 years old, inspired by his grandfather, who was a horse soldier in the Indian wars. MacDonald saw combat in the Pacific during World War II.

After the war, he was stable sergeant for the 1st Cavalry Division at Camp Drake, Japan, and served as stable sergeant to Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

MacDonald was assigned to the Fort Reno, Nev., Remount Station in the 1950s, where he broke 1,200 horses for shipment to Turkey. In 1954, he was assigned to the 35th Quartermaster's pack mules at Fort Carson, Colo. He retired from the Army in 1965 and took a job at Fort Ord in post maintenance.

MacDonald bought his mare Comanche at a Bureau of Land Management wild mustang roundup in the late 1960s and rode her for 23 years in ceremonies at Fort Ord.

He and Comanche, in the uniform and equipment of the 19th century Indian-fighting cavalry, appeared at the last graduation parade of trainees at Fort Ord and parades for commanding generals, as well as the Army Birthday Parade in 1976 on the Main Parade Field.

MacDonald and Comanche also paraded in places from Marina to Oregon to Arizona.

"I rode for every commander of Fort Ord and have letters from all of them," MacDonald said. He has one from Ronald Reagan, who served as an Army cavalry officer between the world wars.

Upon Comanche's death, the Army gave MacDonald permission to bury the horse on post in a grave marked by a rail fence, a headstone and a small display case that has become a landmark for hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders.

He has since acquired another mare, Comanche II, and participated in June in The Ride for the Rescues, an effort to break the Guinness record for a single-day trail competition and as a fundraiser for the Humane Society.

The Allan MacDonald Trail has been a project of Friends of the Fort Ord Warhorse, said Margaret Davis of Marina, one of its founders.

The organization, she said, wants to provide a permanent overland trail for hikers, bikers and riders linking the BLM land at Fort Ord with Marina's beaches.

Parallel to the MacDonald Trail is the Lt. Lee Stickler Artillery Cutoff. Stickler, 93, served with the 76th Field Artillery at Fort Ord when the post maintained 1,400 horses and mules for cavalrymen and cannoneers.

The trails follow a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. pipeline easement and a series of dirt roads bounded by oak forests. The trails traverse land owned by the Fort Ord Reuse Authority and areas earmarked for future development.

"We've been talking to landowners along the route," Davis said, "asking for a conservation easement, a greenway, with the equestrian center as a hub.